The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-06-23
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
HOW THE CAPITAL LOOKS IN THE
HOT MONTHS.
Its Wonderful Flowers-How Its Streets
Are Cleaned-A Story of j. II. Mclean
for n Hotel,


and His Troubles in Buying Ground
for n Hotel.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, June l3-The dizziness of
summer has fallen upon Washington. The
presidents vacation has thrown a shadow
over the spirits of both society and business,
and the cabinet ministers who are not already
gone are planning their trips for the summer.
Garland summers at Hominy Hill, or his
country seat, near Little Rock, Ark;
Whitney rusticates at Lennox, and Lamar
stops for assessor in Georgia and Mississippi.
There are even now not O bakers dozen of
statesmen of national note in the city Ed
munds left some time ago for Detroit, and he |
told me before he went that he intended to
devote a part of the summer to fishing in |
Canada.
In the meantime Washington was never
more beautiful than it is now. The flowers
of the capital surpass those of any other city
in the United States, and our wonderful eli
mate and the generous appropriations of the
government push them to their fullest beauty.
The White House rose garden, which stands
in the lawn between the executive mansion
and the treasury, is a mass Of beautiful bios
SONS of the choicest varieties, and there are
enough roses here to make buttonhole bou-
quets for an army of beaux and bellies. The
various government departments have gar
dens connected with the fine grounds sur
rounding them, and these have each a
| skilled gardener to attend to them. The
| treasury front is one mass of choice
flowers, and as to the Agricultural gardens,
they are now clothed in beauty which would
have done honor to the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon. The numerous parks of Washing
| ton and the circles and squares which you
| find at tho intersections of the avenues and
streets are kept up by the government and
the flowers are here changed with the season,
| so that they are full of blossoms from the
| beginning to the end of warm weather. from
the first crocuses to the last flowers of No
vember.
This country seems to be the paradise of
roses, and they grow almost wild. Negro
cabins are in some parts of the city now
covered with roses, and the poorest laborer
may have the most beautiful flowers if he
will but plant them.
The ivy of Washington has not been men,
toned as one of its attractions, but it is an
important one. Every creeping vine grows
here luxuriantly, and some Of the finest
houses are now clothed in green. The Uni
tartan church looks like medieval castle in
its ivygrown dress, and the japanese ivy,
with its delicate tracery, is outlined all along
the red brick homes of the statesmen on
Massachusetts avenue.
Washington is not, however, as clean in
summer as in winter, and the streets here are
now very dirty. The government pays half
of our taxes, and the city is so dependent on
congress that it puts its best foot foremost
during the sessions. The many miles Of wide
streets are, you know, covered with asphalt,
which is as smooth as a board and which will
not soak up bit of anything which falls upon
It, These streets are cleaned by great sweep
ing machines drawn by horses, and SO made
that revolving broom of twigs sweeps every
bit Of the dirt from the middle Of the streets
to the edge Of the curbstone Of the sidewalk
The streets are sprinkled before this great
sweeper goes by, and the dirt is turned into
mud before it is swept. After a street has
been cleaned the wagons Of the cleaners gather
up the piles of dirt and carry them away. In
the winter this cleaning is done almost every
night, and you can then drop your handker-
chief on the main avenues with fair ex-
pectation of picking it up unsoiled. 1t is
different in the summer, and the best street
cleaner we now have is the rain. A driving
rain in Washington does more cleaning than
i'm q city where the streets have different kinds
of pavements. The asphalt will not absorb a
drop and the water runs Off to the sidewalks
and along them to the nearest sewer opening.
1t rises to torrent in heavy shower, but
the black pavements so absorb every ray OF
the sun that the streets are often dry within
an hour after the rain stops
hear a curious story about the trouble
which John r. Mclean is having in the pur.
chase of ground for a new Washington hotel
Mclean owns two large houses on the corner
| of Fifteenth and l streets northwest, just
across from John Chamberlain's club house.
, 1t is within two blocks of the Arlington
hotel, within a stones throw of the White
House, and ON what is now the edge of fash.
| ionable Washington. 1t would be splendid
, location for a high toned hotel, but the
ground which Mclean owns is not enough
for the purpose. Just back of his lots lies q
colored Presbyterian church, which covers
l about 5000 feet of ground. For some months
l Mclean has been attempting to buy this
church. He has offered more than it is
worth, and has brought influence to bear to
obtain it. First he proposed to give 1000
| Tor tne properly, 10 allow inc congregation
all the material of which the church is com.
S posed, to buy them lot on Sixteenth street
large enough to erect shurch of the same
: size, and to give them an organ in addition.
: They refused this offer without considera
t ton. He then limited at $4,000, and upon
r their not swapping at this he made an offel
Of So, 900 cash. In the meantime his mother
S who is Presbyterian, was much opposed tt
!, bis buying the church. She told John, II
=, Is said, that he ought not to purchase @
. "house of Cod" and am told she vert t.
= the sexton and told him that she hoped they
r would not sell the church, but that If they
f did to charge high price for it. In the
B, meantime the church still remains, and the
e colored congregation, which Is one of the
f most fashionable Of the kind in the city, has
Q not yet decided to give it up. The ground
S which Mclean offered TO buy for the church
: on Sixteenth street g some of The best in the
city, and it is WORT in the neighborhood Of
: 81 square foot.
5 THOMAS J. TODD.